The Sessions

John Hawkes withdraws from his psychotic redneck ways (Winter’s Bone, Martha Marcy May Marlene) and takes on the juicy character piece that is Mark O’Brien in The Sessions. O’Brien is a poet who lives a life in an iron lung after being stricken with polio as a child. Still wishing to live his life to the fullest, O’Brien enlists the help of sex surrogate Cheryl (Helen Hunt , As Good As it Gets, Cast Away) to lose his virginity.

While the film is incredibly personal, told mostly through Mark’s perspective, The Sessions still conveys an objective tone. Much of the movie weaves exposition punctuated by voice overs of Mark’s poetry and thoughts. The ever dreamy Mark acts as a quiet specter of his world, subtly taking notes, never judging, only wishing to learn and grow.  

Helen Hunt certainly delivers an Oscar worthy performance, portraying the conflicted therapist, struggling to remain professional and fight her growing attachment to the innocent and hopeful Mark. The incredible amount of reserve in her emotion is palpable; resulting in a nuanced and well crafted performance.

There’s a wonderful quietness to Hunt and Hawkes’ relationship. Obviously the story involves them getting literally naked, but their ability to really show their warmth is what really makes these roles human and dimensional.

However, the film is Hawkes’ vehicle, and he knocks it out of the park. Taking a cue from Javier Bardem from Mar Adentro, Hawkes is able to add layers and layers into his character despite not being able to move from the neck down.  
Hawkes, takes full advantage of his physical limitation, manifesting every emotional fiber within facial expressions.

In his face alone, he is able to wear Mark’s emotional history; petrified by guilt and fear, yet thrusted into action through a strong sense of mortality and tremendous inner courage. In a heated Oscar race featuring Daniel Day-Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix, and Denzel Washington, Hawkes has certainly made his case.

The closing moments of the film point out that despite his limitations, Mark was still able to live a life full of love. In a world with such a linear definitions for love, The Sessions explores the many facets that love has to offer. Whether it be friends, lovers, partners, or something beyond simple labels, these relationships are what carve the landscape of our being and give our lives emotional fertility. The results can be equally diverse; passionate, humorous, tragic, or just beyond words. Trying to sort these themes and motives can be difficult, but if you’re willing to test your philosophical and mental depth, class is in session.          

Wreck-It Ralph

Let’s talk straight here: a lot of kid’s movies are about learning who you are and what you want to do with that. They use a variety of plot devices, narratives, foils, characters, and shiny animation techniques to teach the children all the lessons about growing up, developing your personality, and being a good person.

This is basically a long way of saying: ignore the critics that are saying “Wreck-it Ralph” is some stale incarnation of these things. Spoiler alert: it’s all the same lesson. This movie just does it with enough young pizzazz that it takes you for a ride along the way.

The titular character, Wreck-it Ralph (John C. Reilly, Step Brothers, Magnolia), has been working inside a videogame as a villain for years. It’s not his fault, he’s coded that way! But Ralph has enough of it, setting off to different games to prove himself a hero and win a shiny medal. Along the way he inadvertently cross contaminates the games and threatens the livelihood of his friends and the arcade games they live in.

There is certainly a lot going on in this movie. There’s dangers to the integrated world of video gaming; Ralph gets sidetracked helping a girl in the racing game Sugar Rush; his protagonist counterpart, Fix-it Felix (the goofy Jack McBrayer from 30 Rock) goes searching for him with the tough-as-nails Sergeant Calhoun (Jane Lynch, from Glee, Best in Show, as herself) from the first-person shooter game he steals the medal from; and not all is as sweet as it seems in the Sugar Rush kingdom….So yeah there’s a lot of story. Granted the first 30 minute are not promising and of course along the way we encounter different examples of what it means to really fit into your environment.

But what the movie does so well is not letting itself get too bogged down by it all. It’s not hokey or preachy, rambling or lost, it is a clever mash-up of video games and kid’s movies; and it does that with style. But what many critics are seeing as a flaw I see as a well executed adventure ensemble. The audience now has so many more characters and narratives, and since “Wreck-it” more than manages it, the result is visual feast.

The graphics are superb (as is to be expected from a modern kids movie); and the thought behind the style of each game world (and the game train station they travel through) is clearly meticulously thought out. This movie dazzles and delights, and with so many positives it’s easy to just push start.   

Proportionally sized review about pre-movie short “Paperman”: Implausible, beautiful, and adorable, “Paperman” is an impressive update to 2D animation that tells a sweet love story. It’s pretty cute, and should be gracing the youtube virals in no time.